Landscapes of ViolenceVolume 2Number 2 Bioarchaeological Perspectives on Violence Article 5

May 2012

Taphonomy After the Fact: Violence and Ritual inRoom 33 at Chaco and Room 178 at AztecRyan P. HarrodUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas, rharrod2@uaa.alaska.edu

Debra L. MartinUniversity of Nevada - Las Vegas, debra.martin@unlv.edu

Shawn W. CarlyleUniversity of Utah, shawn.carlyle@anthro.utah.edu

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Recommended CitationHarrod, Ryan P.; Martin, Debra L.; and Carlyle, Shawn W. (2012) "Taphonomy After the Fact: Violence and Ritual in Room 33 atChaco and Room 178 at Aztec," Landscapes of Violence: Vol. 2 : No. 2 , Article 5.DOI: 10.7275/R5F769G8Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/lov/vol2/iss2/5

Taphonomy After the Fact: Violence and Ritual in Room 33 at Chaco andRoom 178 at Aztec

AbstractChaco Canyon‘s Room 33 (excavated by George Pepper) and Aztec Ruins room 178 (excavated by EarlMorris) are recognized for their rich taphonomic context. These two mortuary features reveal a great deal ofinformation about ritualized behavior. Researchers such as Akins and Palkovich have provided partial analysesof the Chaco skeletal material in the 1980s. The reanalysis of those remains considers the Chaco burials inrelation to those at Aztec and analyzes their meaning through a thorough analysis of the grave goods,archaeological records, and ethnohistorical documents to provide a better understanding of these elaborateand unique mortuary rooms. Specifically, this study focuses on signatures of identity, biological, cultural, andsocioeconomic. Biological identity markers include age, sex, and stature. Cultural identity includes mortuarycontext, graves goods, and site layout. Socioeconomic identity, which is the hardest to reconstruct isevidenced by the frequency and distribution of trauma related to exposure to violence, changes to anatomyrelated to unequal amounts of labor, and susceptibility to diseases over time. The result of looking at all thesefactors is that it is possible to reconstruct identity, such as Burial 3672 in Room 33. This male is especiallyintriguing because the burial shows evidence of extensive perimortem fractures on the cranium suggesting aviolent death, and yet this is a very high status individual based on the stature and isotopic analysis as well asthe grave offerings he was interred with. These kinds of taphonomic and mortuary features are explored.

KeywordsViolence, Ritual, Southwest, Social Inequality, Elites

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RESULTS: The two individuals from Room 33 and the one from Room 178 all share

the following:

• These males were aged between 40-50+ and they were taller in

stature than the average Pueblo male.

•The remains were complete, with no major taphonomic changes

(i.e., rodent gnawing or weathering), and interred with a vast

amount of grave goods, suggesting these were primary burials.

•No evidence of repeated exposure to violence (non-lethal trauma).

Room 33 at Chaco Room 178 at Aztec

Taphonomy After The Fact: Violence and Ritual

Ryan P. Harrod1 , Debra L. Martin1 and Shawn W. Carlyle2 1Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2Department of Anthropology, University of Utah

OBJECTIVES: To investigate ritual spaces, violence and sex for two related

Southwest sites using taphonomic and skeletal data.

BACKGROUND: Room 33 (“Gambler’s House”) at Pueblo Bonito and Room 178

(the “Warrior’s Grave”) at Aztec Ruin are among two of the most elaborate burial

contexts in the American Southwest during the Pueblo period.

METHODOLOGY: This project relies on archaeological and bioarchaeological

methods to determine the identity of these individuals and the role they played in

the Ancestral Pueblo culture. The approach is to understand the biological (age/sex

and stature/robusticity), cultural (mortuary context) and political –economic

(activity-level and violence) markers of identity.

Identity

Biological

Age / Sex Stature /

Robusticity

Cultural

Mortuary Context

Political-Economic

Activity-Level

Violence

Confirming Akin’s (1986) and Turner and Turner’s (1999) findings, there are 3 separate perimortem fractures on

the cranium of Burial 3672 based on at least one of three of the following characteristics being present:

- The edges are sharp (at least where postmortem damage has not occurred).

- There is a hinge fracture.

- There are fractures radiating from the injury.

DISCUSSION: There are many theories about these burials but the

bioarchaeological data presented here support prior work by

Akins (1986) that indicated the individuals were of higher social

status. However, these males were likely more than just high

ranking; they continued to be important in society even after

death, remaining very much a part of the living. •Interment over several generations in Room 33. Oldest burial (AD

690-940); most recent burial (AD 1023-1185) (Plog and Heitman 2010).

•The elaborate ritual and ceremonial context of these burials.

CONCLUSION: The reanalysis of these so-called “major dudes”

(Lekson 1999, p. 26) in the Southwest confirmed and elaborated

upon theories about how these individuals had more power and

access to resources than others. They were afforded a level of

ritualized burial treatment suggesting a central role.

The burials at both sites are

interred with elaborate

grave goods.

Pueblo Bonito

• 3671 – 5,890 turquoise beads

10 turquoise pendants,

4 turquoise sets, 3 shell

beads, 2 vessels. (Pepper N.D.)

• 3672 – 11,309 turquoise beads,

532 turquoise pendants,

11 effigy pendants, 12

shell and/or stone

beads, 5 shell pendants. (Pepper N.D.)

Aztec Ruins

• 8070 – 1 shield, 1 sword, 2

stone axes, at least 5

vessels, 1 lithic toolkit. (Morris 1924)

Burial Stature Robusticity 3671 171.47 12.75

3672 166.50 12.85

8070 172.15 12.16

Site Stature Robusticity Black Mesa 163.1 12.25

La Plata 161.4 12.06

Puye 160.0 –

Arroyo Hondo 162.0 –

Alkalai Ridge 165.4 12.75

Carter Ranch 162.6 –

Hawikku 160.5 –

Mesa Verde 162.1 11.70

1930's Pueblo 163.7 –

(Martin et al., 2001; Stodder 2010)

Akins (1986, p. 113)

Morris (1924, p. 144)

Why was this individual murdered? • Did he violate social norms?

- Does not explain the grave goods.

• Was he a warrior or an elite for the culture that upon death was venerated? - Would explain the grave goods, but why so many? – 8070 at Aztec was considered

to be a warrior, but without as many grave goods.

• Was he a warrior or an elite that offered himself or was offered as a

sacrifice (Baadsgaard et al., 2011 found similar cranial evidence in Ur). - Explains the grave goods (maybe quantity as well) along with the other violent

deaths in the upper level of Room 33 (e.g., Burial 3 and Burial 10).

Morris (1924, p. 192) Hayes et al.(1981, p. 7)

8070 3672 3671

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The UNLV Graduate & Professional Student Association for financial assistance and the

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) for access to the collections.

Sample Stable Nitrogen Isotope 3671 11.4 δ15N ‰

3672 12.4 δ15N ‰

BM II/III–Pueblo 5.7- 8.6 δ15N ‰

*More access to meat = High status (Coltrain et al., 2007)

FUTURE RESEARCH

Analysis of these and

other remains from Pueblo

Bonito and Aztec,

currently housed at the

AMNH, with a focus on

entheses and non-lethal

trauma.

REFERENCES Akins NJ. 1986. A Biocultural Approach to Human Burials from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Reports

of the Chaco Center, No. 9. Santa Fe: National Park Service.

Baadsgaard A, Monge J, Cox S, and Zettler RL. 2011. Human Sacrifice and Intentional Corpse

Preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Antiquity 85:27-42.

Coltrain JB, Janetski JC, and Carlyle SW. 2007. The Stable- and Radio-Isotope Chemistry of

Western Basketmaker Burials: Implications for early Puebloan diets and origins. American Antiquity

72(2):301-321.

Hayes AC, Brugge DM, and Judge WJ. 1981. Archaeological Surveys of Chaco Canyon New

Mexico. Publications in Archaeology 18A, Chaco Canyon Studies, National Park Service.

Washington, D.C.

Lekson SH. 1999. The Chaco Meridian: Centers of political power in the ancient Southwest. Walnut

Creek: AltaMira Press.

Martin DL, Akins NJ, Goodman AH, and Swedlund AC. 2001. Harmony and Discord: Bioarchaeology

of the La Plata Valley. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico, Office of Archaeological Studies.

CITED

Morris EH. 1924. Burials in the Aztec Ruin. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of

Natural History: The Archer M. Huntington Survey of the Southwest.

Pepper, G.H., N.D. Pepper PUEBLO BONITO Contents of Rm 17, 25, 28, 28A, 32, 33, 39, 39B, 85, 93:

Folder 1. In the Hyde Exploring Expedition, Box 4, American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Plog S, and Heitman C. 2010. Hierarchy and Social Inequality in the American Southwest, A.D. 800-

1200. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

107(46):19619-19626.

Stodder, A L W. 2010. Growth, Stature, and Robusticity. In Animas-La Plata Project: Bioarchaeology.

SWCA Anthropological Research Papers No. 10, vol, XV, edited by E. M. Perry, A. L. W. Stodder

and C. A. Bollong. Phoenix: SWCA Environmental Consultants.

Turner CG, II, and Turner JA. 1999. Man Corn: Cannibalism and violence in the prehistoric American

Southwest. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

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Harrod et al.: Taphonomy After the Fact

Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2012